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Emergency response units assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/Images via EarthCam/Kennedy Center

‘Tower, did you see that?’: Haunting Air Traffic Control audio sheds light on the moments before deadly Washington plane crash

ATC tried to warn helicopter.

A collision between an American Airlines aircraft and a military helicopter near Washington, D.C. stopped the world in its tracks Wednesday evening. Now, audio from Air Traffic Control has provided insight into the moments directly before and directly after the crash.

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Audio obtained by CNN from LiveATC.net captured the exchange between ATC operators and the U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk as they noticed the helicopter getting closer to the passenger plane — a Bombardier Canadian Region Jet (CRJ) 700 operating as American Eagle Flight 5342, traveling from Wichita, Kansas to Reagan National Airport.

“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight?” asked an air traffic controller at Washington Tower. He then can be heard telling the military aircraft to “pass behind the CRJ.” Though initial reports claimed the helicopter didn’t respond, Fox News has indicated that they responded on a different tower frequency.

A subsequent transmission seems to capture the moment operators witnessed the crash, with an audible “oooh” and “oh my” audible in the background. Right after the crash, another aircraft calls into ATC asking “Tower, did you see that?”

The rest of the audio contains multiple orders and requests from Washington Tower to other airborne aircraft to land or reroute, with increasing commotion heard in the background. Though the PAT call sign usually stands for Priority Air Transport used to fly senior military officers, Joint Task Force-National Capital Region media chief Heather Chairez told CNN that the helicopter was on a training flight.

According to Tony Stanton from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority speaking to the outlet, Washington Tower has two radio frequencies, one dedicated to rotorcraft (rotary-wing aircraft), and another dedicated to other planes. “So in this circumstance, you would have had the Black Hawk talking to the tower on one frequency, and you would have had Flight 5342 talking to the tower on another frequency,” Stanton explained.

Other transcripts with no available audio as yet depict the moments following the collision, where the tower alerted another pilot, per CNN and Reuters. “Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three,” says one controller.

I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach end of [runway 33]. We are going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future if you want to go back to the gate. Highly suggest you guys coordinate with the company. Let me know what you want to do.”

The pilot then says, “Yeah, we were on short final, and we saw flares from the opposite side of the Potomac,” followed by the controller remarking that “Apparently both aircraft involved are in the river,” and that “a search and rescue will be ongoing.”

The explosion occurred mid-air over the icy Potomac River which has no doubt impacted rescue operations and hopes for survival due to the risk of hypothermia. The passenger jet was carrying 64 people, including former Russian world champion figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, and 14 U.S. figure skaters, along with their parents and several coaches, while the Black Hawk helicopter had three soldiers on board. More than 30 fatalities have been reported so far, though specific names are still elusive.


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Author
Image of Francisca Tinoco
Francisca Tinoco
Francisca is a pop culture enthusiast and film expert. Her Bachelor's Degree in Communication Sciences from Nova University in Portugal and Master's Degree in Film Studies from Oxford Brookes University in the UK have allowed her to combine her love for writing with her love for the movies. She has been a freelance writer and content creator for five years, working in both the English and Portuguese languages for various platforms, including WGTC.